July 1st is here: time to take stock of your study plan and recalibrate

Bar preparation, as in life, requires diligent study according to a plan or schedule. Perhaps the full-feature bar prep course you are taking set deadlines and goals for you. Maybe you used a schedule like we recommend in our bar prep materials, created one yourself, or a tutor is helping you.

If you were able to complete (or exceed) all action items defined and assigned by the full bar prep programs, by your tutor, or the schedule you created for yourself, congratulations! If you did not, which makes most of us, don't worry. Planning is not a perfect exercise. July is the time to take stock of where you are, and where you need to be in the next three weeks.

Bar preparation is a slow, steady process. Just about everyone has subjects that they find easier than others, the latter requiring more study and practice than the former. You have the next three weeks to fix the gaps in your understanding. Your goal in the next three weeks is to maintain the level of proficiency of your "good" subjects,  and get to "good enough" in your trouble areas through practice, repetition, and different ways of incorporating the same subject matter. Think "muscle memory" and "good enough," not perfection.

The July 2013 bar exam, in most jurisdictions, takes place on the last day of July and the first day of August 2013, so you have almost a full month left. However, you want to reserve the last week for scaled-down review, sleep, and activities that reduce stress and hone focus.

If you have an aggressive July schedule already mapped out, but have not achieved all of your
June goals, take the time today to discover your strengths and weaknesses, and how much you are behind in each subject. Don't spend the time to get completely caught up on your prior schedule before tacking new subject matter. Otherwise, you will get behind on the new/unstudied material, and feel the need to cram, risking your retention of both new and previously reviewed material.

Instead, shave 2-3 hours here and there from multiple days on your July schedule for review of material not covered/not mastered from June. Also consider increasing your current hours of study by two hours for every second or third day, but take longer breaks on those days. For the MBE, if you are behind, particularly focus on the high-value areas that have multiple questions, such as negligence and intentional torts for Tort law, present/future estates and mortgages in Property, relevance, personal knowledge, and hearsay for Evidence, the 1st Amendment and Separation of Powers in ConLaw, contract formation/statute of frauds/parol evidence/UCC in Contracts, and knowledge of specific vs general intent crimes and conspiracy for Criminal Law.

Moreover, you should know by now if your strengths lay more towards MBE/multiple choice than essay, or vice-versa, and adjust your schedule accordingly to spend more time on the weaker one.